Blackberry plant named ‘Sleeping Beauty’

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of blackberry plant named ‘Sleeping Beauty’. The new cultivar is distinguished from other blackberry cultivars by its large fruit, low chill requirement, and long fruiting period. The new cultivar is distinguished from its pollen parent by having an earlier fruiting period and much lower chill requirement. The new cultivar is distinguished from its seed parent by having firmer and less acidic fruit.

LATIN NAME OF THE GENUS AND SPECIES OF THE PLANT CLAIMED

Rubus hybrid

VARIETY DENOMINATION

‘Sleeping Beauty’

1. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a new cultivar of blackberry called ‘Sleeping Beauty’. The new cultivar was developed from hybridization of the unpatented female cultivar ‘Brazos’ with the unpatented male cultivar ‘Hull Thornless’. The parents were crossed in Spring 1991 whereafter fruit and seed were collected to produce seedlings for field planting in Watsonville, Calif. in 1992. The new cultivar was selected in 1994 for its early fruiting period and large fruit size. The cultivar has been asexually propagated, and reproduced true to type plants by in vitro shoot tip culture.

2. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a new and distinct blackberry cultivar named ‘Sleeping Beauty’. The variety is botanically identified as Rubus L. subgenus Rubus. The variety is described as a complex Rubus hybrid. It can be characterized as an erect tetraploid with considerable R. allegheniensis background with other species such as R. trivalis, R. argutus, R. ulmifolius, and R. procerus also appearing in its background. The new cultivar produces a floricane crop which begins in mid-May and continues until mid-August. The new blackberry variety is distinguished from other varieties by a number of characteristics as set forth in Table 1. In particular, the new cultivar is distinguished by its large fruit, low chill requirement and long fruiting period. Yield of the new cultivar is moderate to high when compared to many other varieties. There have been no observed plant or fruit diseases and no observed pest resistance or susceptibility. The variety has been developed for fresh market shipping use, and has performed well in coast-to-coast shipping tests and held up well after cold storage at 34 degrees Fahrenheit for periods of up to ten days.

3. COMPARISON TO SIMILAR VARIETIES

The variety that we believe to be similar to ‘Sleeping Beauty’ from those known to us is ‘Brazos’, an unpatented variety. ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is particularly different from ‘Brazos’ by having firmer, less acidic fruit and by being slightly smaller in size.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying photographs show typical specimens of the fruit, leaves and shoot of the new cultivar, in color as nearly true as reasonably possible in color illustrations of this type.

FIG. 1 is a photograph showing a primocane shoot, mature leaf and stem of ‘Sleeping Beauty’.

FIG. 2 is a photograph showing a close-up view of a primocane shoot, mature leaf and stem of ‘Sleeping Beauty’.

FIG. 3 is a photograph showing the flowering and fruiting laterals of ‘Sleeping Beauty’.

5. DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW VARIETY

The following detailed description of the new blackberry cultivar, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, is based upon recorded observations of plants two to five years old grown using commercial growing practices in Watsonville, Calif., and is believed to apply to plants of the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ cultivar grown in similar conditions of soil and climate elsewhere. Plants were planted on soil previously pre-plant fumigated and regularly fertilized and irrigated with drip irrigation. This description is in accordance with terminology used by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). Throughout this specification, color names beginning with a small letter signify that the name of the color, as used in common speech, is aptly descriptive. Color data beginning with a capital letter and followed by an alphanumeric code indicate the most similar color designations as provided by The Royal Horticultural Society (R.H.S.) Colour Chart published by The Royal Horticultural Society of London, England. Color designations, color descriptions, and other phenotypical descriptions may deviate from the stated values and descriptions depending upon variation in environmental, seasonal, climatic and cultural conditions.

5.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEW VARIETY

Table 1 provides information on the plant and fruit characteristics of the new blackberry cultivar ‘Sleeping Beauty’ compared with characteristics of the unpatented blackberry cultivars ‘Olallie’ and ‘Chester’. Both ‘Olallie’ and ‘Chester’ are currently important cultivars for fresh market shipping, and thus are comparable to the proposed use of the new invention, ‘Sleeping Beauty’. Observations of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘Olallie’ and ‘Chester’ were taken in side-by-side comparison in 1999 and 2000.

The new blackberry cultivar is particularly characterized and distinguished from other cultivars by its low chill requirement and its long fruiting cycle. Canes of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ are vigorous and thorny. The average cane length for ‘Sleeping Beauty’ under a normal growing season is 10.5 feet in comparison to the average cane length for ‘Chester’ which is 9 feet in a normal growing season. The primocane color for ‘Sleeping Beauty’ on the exposed side of the cane is 146B and 146C on the shaded side. Floricanes of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ are 146B on the exposed side and 146B on the shaded sided.

The leaves of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ have very minor undulations between where the veins are and are nearly flat. The leaf surface of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is characterized by a few small, soft hairs on both the upper and lower leaf surface. The petiole color of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is 146B when exposed to full sun. The bud break of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is in late March and usually 1-2 weeks before ‘Olallie’. The petal color is 155C. The pedicel length of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ averages 19 mm under normal growing conditions and the sepal color is 143A.

The fruit color of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is black with moderate amount of post harvest drupelet color reversion. The fruit is large with a slightly tart flavor. Postharvest fruit rot resistance is average in comparisons with many selections and varieties. The fruit yield of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is moderately high, averaging around 23,000 lbs per acre in comparison to the fruit yield of ‘Olallie’ which averages around 21,000 lbs per acre.

‘Sleeping Beauty’ is distinguished from its pollen parent, ‘Hull Thornless’, by being thorny, having a more upright growth habit, and having larger fruit. Additionally, ‘Sleeping Beauty’ has a much lower chill requirement and an earlier season than its pollen parent ‘Hull Thornless’. ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is distinguished from its seed parent, ‘Brazos’, by having firmer and less acidic fruit.

TABLE 1 PLANT CHARACTERISTICS OF ‘SLEEPING BEAUTY’ ‘Sleeping Beauty’ ‘Olallie’ ‘Chester’ GENERAL Vigor high Moderate - high high Growth habit upright trailing semi-upright Productivity moderately high high high Self fruitfulness yes yes yes Number of young shoots many medium medium CANES Primocanes Anthocyanin coloration absent present present Spines present present absent color green purple — attitude of tip horizontal to horizontal — downward texture rigid heavy — presence and present; present; absent distribution irregularly irregularly on petioles distributed distributed density in central medium medium — third of shoot Internodal distance 3.3 2.6 3.1 (cm) - central third of mature cane Glaucosity on full absent or weak weak very grown shoot weak Strength of full strong medium strong grown shoot Cane cross section angular to rounded to angular to grooved angular grooved LEAVES Relief between veins weak medium medium Number of leaflets usually 5 usually 3 usually 5 Leaf color medium medium light upper side 139A 137A, 137B 147A underside 137C 147B 146A Glossiness of glossy medium dull upper surface Leaf cross section concave concave-flat concave Terminal leaflet length (cm) 9.5 8.9 11.1  width (cm) 6.5 7.6 9   shape ovate cordate cordate tip acuminate acuminate acuminate base rounded cordate cordate margin double double double serrate serrate serrate Lateral leaflet overlap of touching overlapping overlapping lateral leaflets length (cm) 9.1 8.7 10.2  width (cm) 5.4 6.1 7.1 shape ovate ovate ovate tip acute acuminate acute base acute acute acute margin double double serrate serrate serrate Petiole mean length (cm) 6.8 5.3 7.9 range 5.6-7.8 3.6-8.7  3.9-10.2 pigmentation of purplish green - purple upper surface red slightly pink pigmentation of some red, green - green - underside mostly slightly pinkish green pink Length of stalklet short very short medium Rachis length (cm) 2.9 2.8 3.1 between terminal and adjacent lateral leaflets) Stipule orientation erect variable; erect clasping to erect FLOWERS Time of bud burst early early late Time of beginning early early late of flowering Flower size large small to small to medium medium Petal size length (mm) 20.1  16.5  18.3  width (mm) 16.5  11.7  10.9  Anthocyanin color absent absent present of pedicel Intensity of — — weak pedicel coloration Length of pedicel medium- long short long Flower number 7.6 3.6 2   (third node from tip of lateral) FRUIT Harvest season early to early mid to mid late Dimensions weight (g/fruit) 5.1 5.2 3.2 size medium medium small length (cm) 2.4 3.3 1.9 width (cm) 1.7 1.4 1.9 Fruiting lateral medium- medium medium - length (in mid cane) long long mean number of 9.1 6.2 22.8  fruit per lateral range  4-18 3-9 17-40 Shape elliptic narrow round to longer ovate much ovate as than longer than long as broad broad broad Color black purple- black black to black immature 187B 178A - 183B 184A maturing 200A 187A 200A - 202A mature 202A 200A 202A Firmness medium medium firm Glossiness medium medium - medium strong strong Soluble solids 10.2  9.7 9.9 Titratable acidity 10.2  13.3  9.9 (% as citric acid) (ml of added 0.1N NaOH to pH 8.1) Number of drupelets 94  86  40  per fruit

Table 2 provides information on the seed weight of the new blackberry cultivar ‘Sleeping Beauty’ compared with characteristics of the blackberry cultivars ‘Zorro’ (application Ser. No. 09/772,327), ‘Olallie’ (non-patented), ‘Chester’ (non-patented), ‘Pecos’ (application Ser. No. 09/772,211), and ‘Sonoma’.

TABLE 2 Cultivar Seed Weight ‘Zorro’ 2.3 mg ‘Olallie’ 2.1 mg ‘Chester’ 3.5 mg ‘Sleeping Beauty’ 4.1 mg ‘Pecos’ 3.5 mg ‘Sonoma’ 3.4 mg

5.2 NUCLEIC ACID FINGERPRINTING

Distinctive patterns of polymorphism can be detected using a variety of nucleic acid analysis methods. In one non-limiting example, molecular genetic maps can be produced using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) (Williams et al., 1990, “DNA polymorphisms amplified by arbitrary primers are useful as genetic markers”, Nucleic Acids Res. 18(22):6531-5). Using a variety of oligonucleotide primers, along or in combination, RAPD analysis of ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Chester’, and ‘Olallie’ yielded DNA fragment patterns that uniquely distinguish each of these genetically distinct genotypes. 

We claim:
 1. A new and distinct cultivar of blackberry plant, substantially as shown and described. 